Farkling Almost Complete

Farkling is almost complete on the 1250FA.  Got busy for a couple days last week and ripped a bunch of stuff out of the DL1000 and moved it over to the new bike.

The FA already had a few farkles,  mainly the bags and topcase, 2-inch bar risers, some funky-fat Kuryakin-type grips, a set of highway pegs which were some special brackets with the passenger pegs moved down to them, and a direct-to-battery power cord.  Oh ya, and the PO left his throttle rocker on there too, musta been in a hurry to trade.   :grin:

First things I ordered for the FA were an owner's manual and a shop manual.  The owners manual had to come from a Suzuki shop and cost $20.  I got the shop manual, which looks totally original from another seller for only $35, which was a bargain - Suzuki shops want $85 for the same thing.

I also ordered a set of my favored BMW sport grips, which I have put on every bike I've owned for a long long time.  They just fit my hands the best and never wear out.  About $25 for the set.   I picked up a new set of Symtec grip heaters, a Ram handlebar mount (I had the other necessary parts) and a Protec stickon tank protector from Amotostuff in Carson City, another 90-some bucks.  And yesterday I traveled 600+ miles over to Red Bluff CA and back and had Rick Mayer rebuild my saddle,  maybe the best farkle on the bike, certainly the most contributing to comfort.  Rick's prices are awesome, I got in on his July special for ride-in appointments, less than $250 for the rebuild.

So, a-farkling we will went then...

From the VSTrom I moved over my Starcom system and my fuseblock setup,  my two Powerlet Outlets,  headset jack, throttle lock, PTT switch and volume control as well as the SP2730 and the "hockey puck" XM antenna for same.  

I've had dash shelves on the last several bikes.  No room for one on this bike, so the SP2730 had to go on a handlebar Ram mount setup.



For right now, I just stuck the hockey puck on top of the clutch MC with some Scotchloc, and that worked ok.  I have a round metal mount made for the puck on order - it'll be mounted right behind the gps and will attach to the Ram mount cradle.

The PTT, Volume control and switch for the grip heaters are also mounted on the left handlebar.  You can also see the new BMW grips here and the stock bar-end weights that were included with the bike.



I had been hoping to sell those expensive Kuryakin-type grips to someone else, but I had to literally destroy them to get them off the bike.  The PO had glued them on with some sort of plastic cement, or superglue. To prevent the left one from coming off he glued it to the switch housing!   :banghead:   What a dufus!  It took me hours to get them off and to clean up all the glue residue with razorblades, chemicals, sanding tubes on the Dremel, Scotchbrite, and anything else I could get my hands on...

Not too much on the right-side handlebar except the throttle lock and throttle rocker.



A handy flat panel on the left side provided the opportunity for me to exercise my hole saw and install the Powerlet outlets and headset jack.  It'll also be where I put the digital voltmeter.



Under the seat, I found room to install the relay-controlled fuse block and the place where the toolkit (yes, Suzuki's still provide a complete toolkit, it's now in the topbox) used to go provided a perfect spot to strap down the Starcom control unit. The big O-ring used to secure the toolkit works perfectly for the Starcom.



Then yesterday, I rode over to Rick Mayer's place in Red Bluff CA and he made a new saddle out of my stock saddle, adjusting it for my butt and riding position. Tested out some of the farkles on the way.  Got up at 3 a.m. after about 3 hours of sleep,  put on the electric vest, packed up the bike and took off about 4 a.m.  277 miles via Susanville and Hwy 36, stopping to take off the vest at the CA89 intersection. It was colder than heck most of the way, but the vest and grip heaters worked well.  I do think I'm going to put some handguards on the bike, the mirrors just don't provide enough wind protection, and I'm thinking about putting widening blocks on the mirrors anyway.

My butt complained all the way over there about the hard stock seat, even with my Alaska Leather pad on there. Too wide for my fat thighs, the seat pressed in and cut off circulation. Had to take a few rest stops on the way over.

Arrived at Rick's shop at about 9:45 a.m.  He takes about 4 appointments on Saturday, and has three young helpers working with him. Rick went over our requirements, taking notes as we sat on the bikes.  The seats were handed off to two helpers for disassembly, while Rick got to know us. Much story-telling ensued.   :grin:

After the seats were disassembled,  Rick built each one of them up with various layers and types of foam, then shaping and carving them with various tools.  He's obviously done this a lot.  :educated:

Meanwhile, one of his helpers was cutting out and lining the cover pieces for the saddles.  Rick has three choices - plain vinyl, basketweave vinyl, or leather.  Several of us got the basketweave vinyl, which has a raised vinyl pattern that allows air circulation.  One of the customers got a black and gray leather seat made for his BMW sport bike (solo seat).

After that, Rick got on the sewing machine and stitched the designs into the saddle tops, trimmed them to fit, and trimmed and fitted the side pieces.  



Before the final fitting, a trial on the bikes to make sure they fit your butt correctly and feel good.  No changes were needed in my case, it felt fabulous!  Spray glue and a lot of hand-fitting are used and many staples later, the seat is complete!



Rick is great to work with, very friendly, lots of war stories, and he even had pizza delivered for lunch!

After finishing, I recharged and put on my cool vest as it was about 105F outside, also my neck cooler and took off for the high country.  Up at altitude about 45 miles later, it was still about 95F, so I decided to take the long way home down CA89 into Truckee, around Tahoe and then down into the heat.  It was a bit longer ride, but in 350 miles or so of sweepers and twisties, my butt never complained once.  I love this seat!  Stopped for a burger in Gardnerville and some fuel, then home about 8:30 p.m.  Long but satisfying day.

So, the major part of my farkling job is done and the bike is set up mostly for touring.  There are a few things I need to finish up on:

Need to add a grounding block to relieve battery clutter.
Install the voltage meter.
Adding the mount for the Garmin XM hockey puck.
Need a new windscreen, will probably order that next week.  I think I'll be going with a German-made MRA X-Creen.
Next tire change I'll be adding 90 degree aluminum tire stems.
Hand protectors, looking at various options including Vstrom ones.
Widener blocks to bring the mirrors out an inch more on each side - less shoulder view.

With all of that, I should be ready for a long run with this bike!

Great write-up.  The cockpit is starting to resemble a 747! That seat looks fantastic - a bargain at $250 especially with so much personal attention to ensuring a perfect fit.  Happy days.  

Good bit of tayloring to suite yourself there but I'm starting to think you should have got a Goldwing or Electra Glyde

bloody hell, you'd be ready for around the world trip on that bike!
nice work!

I have a step by step and parts list for V Strom guards: http://kewwibike.blogspot.co.nz/2011/06/i-have-just-fitted-v-strom-hand-guards.html

I have SW Motech mirror wideners on mine. Very adjustable and look stock.  Right angle valve stems are worth their weight in gold. I thank myself every time I have to put air in.

2wheelsagain wrote:Good bit of tayloring to suite yourself there but I'm starting to think you should have got a Goldwing or Electra Glyde

X2

I was thinking exactly the same thing  



 

No,  just making it into an acceptable tourer.  None of the add-ons are for bling, every one of them is functional and makes for a better experience.

Most of these I wouldn't use if I was just day-riding, it's true - but when touring I average about 500-600 miles/day (up to 1000 km for you metric guys) and these allow me to be in shape for multi-day rides.  I evolved my list of farkles through a lot of trial and error over many years of sport-touring.  And when I get done I'll still have a really comfortable, powerful sport-tourer that weighs 200 pounds less than an ST1100 and 400+ pounds less than a Gold Wing.

Aside that, GW's and those big Harley shakers are for people who like to ride two-up - I never take passengers except under extreme duress and in an emergency, that being when I can't talk one of my buddies into doing it.    

Now mind you, if I start adding a bunch of useless shiny bits, please feel free to chastise me.   

Thanks for the link and instructions, Kewwig!  

I think someone commented on here a fair while back that they had problems with the right angle valve stems causing some sort of problems with tyres losing pressure.
I may be wrong tho

Mine have been in for at least 3 years with no issues. Really convenient.

SVDon wrote:Thanks for the link and instructions, Kewwig!  

No problems. Have a trawl through as there's lots of mods. HIDs are great.

Today I received and installed the mount for the Garmin XM "hockey puck" radio receiver.  Looks really good and makes for a neat install.  I got it from The Mount Depot.  Don't know if they ship international, but they have great service and reasonable prices.

http://www.themountdepot.com/

Today I ordered my new windscreen from Twisted Throttle.  I opted for the MRA X-Creen.  I'll do a report after I've had a chance to try it out.

where is Rick's shop at, do you have the address and contact details?

The seat looks pretty damn good.

Looks good so far. I bought my bike when this model Bandit was brand new in 07 and I've probably done less mods to be honest. Still love the big beast, hopefully in a few weeks time when my abdomen has healed a little more I'll fire her up for a trip to work and back.

Thinking of buying a Brembo RCS master cylinder to get a little more feel in the front brake. Hopefully this should just about top off my mod list apart from the front forks I've been meaning to kit out with Racetech gear (springs and gold valves are in the shed), just have to sort my shit out and give it a go as the instructions suck.

Greg62 wrote:where is Rick's shop at, do you have the address and contact details?

The seat looks pretty damn good.

It's in the industrial park out by the airport.  Address and all the other details are on his webpage.  http://www.rickmayercycle.com/

If you want a ride-in appt, he takes them two days a week, Saturdays and Thursdays I think.  You need to call for an appointment.

The farkling continues.  Getting ready for a week-long ride to the California coast - a bunch of old friends and I throw a rally every year someplace in the west. It's a Honda ST1100/1300 rally, but a lot of us "old-timers" are now on other bikes.  About 150-200 people attend each year, we've been doing it for 19 years now.

I've completed most of the planned farkles now.  This morning I installed a digital voltmeter on the right console, more exercise for my Dremel tool.  




A week or two ago, I installed a new MRA X-Creen windscreen.  I like it a lot, although it's not too quiet.  I need to spend more time finding the right adjustment for it.




Finally, I needed to find a good place to mount my walkie talkie.  Since I only use it infrequently when riding with my rally group, I wanted to put it in a temporary position, where I wouldn't have to run the wires to the Starcom system far. Since the Starcom is under the seat, I came up with this handy solution.   Some high strength 2-inch 3M Hook and Loop fastener on the topcase and the back of the walkie-talkie, and this bad boy isn't going anywhere! I also put the loop fastener on the two spare batteries, in case anyone is wondering.  



After putting a new rear tire on the bike yesterday, I'm about set to go rallying with my friends - all I have to do before leaving is an oil change and replace fluid/bleed the brakes and clutch.

Changed out the clutch and brake levers for new, more-adjustable shiny black ones with nifty curvature.  Got these from the2wheels.com acting on a tip found on this forum (Thanks!).

Brake lever took about 5 minutes to change out,  the clutch a minute or two more as you have to remove the pivot bushing. Mine needed to be cleaned and greased, thus the extra time.

Can't wait to try them out today.  They look great and fit my hands better, so that's a start.

This might be my last farkle - or maybe not.  One of the things that bothered me about riding the FA was the fact that all I could see, mostly, in the mirrors was my arms.

I purchased some 1.5 inch mirror extenders from Scott at Metrick Metal,  www.metrickmetal.com  and they arrived yesterday.  They are very high quality workmanship, powder-coated and with stainless steel bolts nuts and washers.  Installation was straightforward.  He emails you a set of instructions along with your order confirmation,  so that's a bit unusual, but it works.  Print them out and there you go.

I got them installed today, and they look like they'll do the job just fine.  Wasn't able to test them out on the road due to a severe dust storm today,  but hope to get out soon.  Sitting on the seat, there remains very little if any view of the arms in the picture.

They're adjustable in multiple directions.   A picture of the left side installation.